Dee Donatelli writes in this month’s Healthcare Purchasing News about integrating supply chain into the move toward clinical integration.
 
“Clinical integration differs from traditional value analysis in that it incorporates greater clinical and executive involvement to promote a consistent approach and organization-wide change.  Shifting the traditional value analysis approach away from a supply chain-driven initiative to the incorporation of supply chain in current and ongoing institution-wide clinical integration is a top down approach.  Striving to include supply chain in these efforts is what will shift paradigms.”
 
Medical device reprocessors too have been focusing on “shifting paradigms” to promote value in healthcare and we applaud the attention given to the importance of supply chain in overal clinical integration.  AMDR believes that the future of healthcare requires the medical device industry to enter a new paradigm where the focus is on providing value to healthcare rather than pursuing one-sided profit goals. To us this means that reprocessing should be an integrated element in medical device technology development and marketing.  We hope to cooperate with supply chain leaders AND institution-wide programs aimed at increasing value, reducing variation, only adopting safe and effective medical technologies and avoiding those that cannot be reprocessed, or that needlessly escalate costs or waste.   Reprocessing allows hospitals to more efficiently use medical devices assets they already own.  It helps hospitals reduce consumption and waste.  We applaud Ms. Donatelli for her article and hope reprocessing will play an even greater role as hospitals advance supply chain and clinical integration solutions focused on VALUE.